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Friday, November 23, 2018

This year's batch of hand embroidered wool stars made with rescued materials.

Why Buy Locally Handmade?

It's holiday sales season and I am gearing up for the Shakespeare Sip & Shop tomorrow! Before I share the details, I wanted to give you some motivation for choosing to distribute your hard earned dollars in your own community this year.

Every time you purchase a gift this holiday, your money will support and reinforce a method of making, distributing and purchasing a product. If you buy from a chain store or online retailer, not only are you essentially voting for the continuation of that system, but most if not all of your money will be leaving the community in which you live. Not to mention the environmental impact of manufacturing, shipping, storing, and packaging.

When you purchase an item that has been locally handmade, you are directly supporting a member of your community and your money stays in circulation in your own area. Many makers are also eco-conscious and their products are healthier for you and the planet. And the gifts you give will be truly one of a kind treasures.

This holiday season, vote to support the creative members of your own home town and buy locally handmade!

Shakespeare Sip & Shop

My holiday sales season kicks off tomorrow at the Shakespeare Sip & Shop. As happy as I am to be a first time vendor at the show, I can't wait to try some of Harry Ten Shilling's tea and scones! Mmmm. Free admission, free parking, and free swag bags for 25 lucky people. See you there?

Blyth Christmas Night Market & Holiday Handcrafting Weekend

Next weekend, I'll be in the Blyth Memorial Community Hall for the indoor Artisan Night Market on Friday November 30th, 6 - 11 pm. I'll be there again on Saturday, Dec 1 & Sunday, Dec 2 for FACTS' Holiday Handcrafting Weekend - free community craft activities, demonstrations and sales on Saturday and a fabulous workshop on Sunday that lets you do the making! More info here.

St(Art) the Holidays Stratford

Finally, I am returning to the fascinating Factory 163 in Stratford, ON for the St(Art) the Holidays Art Show & Sale on December 8th & 9th. Last year's show was a tremendous success and, more importantly, a lot of fun. Live music, fabulous coffee by Revel, a wine bar, and amazing, original arts and crafts. Definitely worth marking on your calendar!

Where ever you live, please think about the kind of world you're supporting when you make your holiday purchases this year and see if you can send a little love and support to your local makers. Your own world will be better for it!

Monday, October 15, 2018

Don't miss out on our new workshop taking place in Blyth, ON this Saturday! Learn to make your own original work of art using beeswax and wool. This time we'll also talk about combining different weights of wool to really make your image pop.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

This morningI woke to the fragrant scent of wood smoke mixed with the chilly, oxygen charged air that follows a rain storm. At last, it is autumn and I'm feeling reinvigorated and ready to jump back in the game. The fibre art game, that is.

My experience as an artist in residence with the Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts (KIRA) was unspeakably inspiring - truly a once in a lifetime opportunity - and it has taken me a few months to reorient myself and figure out where to go from here.

This video about the KIRA program gives you a small taste of what it was like to be surrounded by so many talented artists. I even make a small appearance!

One of my priorities after returning to Ontario was to follow up on a lead about a dyer's garden that someone in Blyth was starting and I am so happy that I followed my gut on this one. It turns out that 'someone' is Jennifer Triemstra-Johnston, a costume designer, teacher, business owner, and fibre arts school visionary.

The workshop is on October 20th in Blyth and you can find out the details and register here.

I learned so much during my residency in St. Andrews, NB and reconnected with the beauty of pure Canadian Briggs and Little wool and I'm going to bring all of that new learning and enthusiasm with me to the workshop! We'll try out some new techniques and broaden our creative horizons.

I'd love to see you at the Blyth workshop hosted by FACTS. Jennifer has created great energy and momentum around the studio and I cannot say enough good things about the recent two day natural dying workshop I enjoyed as a participant. An entire weekend outside learning how to turn plants and flowers into natural wool dyes - I was in heaven and have developed a new obsession with woad.

Unexpectedly vibrant colours - all from plants.

I have LOTS of glitzy upcoming holiday events to share with you, but we'll save those for another day. Its time to dig out my wool sweaters and head outside to watch the leaves fall.

Oh, before I forget - I'm finally on Instagram! (I know, I know - a little late.) You can follow what I'm up to and see my most recent work at @kathywhiteart.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

The KIRA Residency Building, designed by Canadian architect Edward Maxwell

It is difficult to know where to begin in describing the welcome I have received to the Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts in St. Andrews, NB, along with four other very talented artists from around the globe. Nothing could have prepared me for the warmth of the people involved and the effort they have put into making our time here a true opportunity to pursue artistic creation and development.

My very first dedicated solo studio space and what a space to start with!

The residency is just one of the latest projects planned and implemented by the incredible philanthropist Mrs. Lucinda Flemer, whose family used the house as a summer home in her childhood. You can learn more about Kingsbrae Gardens and Mrs. Flemer in this video, The Giving Garden. I highly recommend it for anyone who is feeling cynical about modern human nature.

The gardens are hugely inspirational, especially in the early morning, which is my favourite time to wander through them and snap photos of anything that is interesting. Right now, my imagination is captivated by the variety of textures you can find, even in the same plant.

Hens and Chickens in the gardens

My fellow artists in residence are the best of people and all hugely and uniquely talented. Here are their websites, which are well worth a look.

There is so much beauty here and also so much bonhomie and I have so very, very much I want to share with you and reflect in my work. But it will have to wait until I'm back home, because right now I am far too busy living it!

For now, let me just say that I feel so blessed to be here, experiencing this.

I hope that you too are experiencing a wonderful new opportunity this summer.

Monday, July 2, 2018

I am so honoured and excited to be taking part in the Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts in St. Andrews, NB. For the month of July, I will be one of five artists living on the grounds of the incredible Kingsbrae Gardens and working out of a studio there, inspired by everything this breathtaking area has to offer.

Life is good.

Early morning yesterday in Maine

Yesterday, after a scenic mountain journey from Quebec through Maine, we arrived in Sr. Andrews to find the town hopping with Canada Day celebrations. These guys do it up right and the waterfront was packed with smiling faces decked out in red and white.

Last night we stayed at the Huntsman Marine Institute, which gave us a perfect view of the Canada Day fireworks display. As we waited for them to begin, we saw a family of deer cross the Algonquin golf course with young fawns playing tag, barely visible in the evening light.

Just before the moon disappeared this morning, St. Andrews, NB.

This morning, I was far too excited to sleep though the dawn chorus and snuck outside to witness my first maritime sunrise.

Tomorrow is the first day of the residency and I can't wait. More to come!

Kathy

PS - I have to thank all of the wonderful volunteers at the Blyth Festival Art Gallery one more time for making the opening night of Every Fibre of My Being such a success.

The people I spoke to were very kind and truly engaged in the arts. Carl and Kelly Stevenson provided excellent curation and emotional support for the opening. Thanks guys!

Making Waves at the Blyth Festival Art Gallery

And a special thanks to Rob and Cora Tetu for whipping up a delicious last minute dinner when we had to evacuate the planned restaurant due to a fire scare. Truly an adventurous evening and one I will never forget. Thanks to everyone involved!

This show will feature my newest body of work called 'Making Waves' where I explore the impact of evaluating each completed piece and using the results to inform the next while limiting myself to the subject of waves. This has been a fascinating process for me and I believe the results show up in the art!

'Making Waves' is as much about process as it is about any individual piece of art and, seen all together, I think they create a pretty interesting exhibition.

My 'Harrison Park Series' is also included in the show as well as several signature pieces, making this a true representation of my work to present, something I haven't seen collected in this manner before.

'Every Fibre of My Being' opens at 6 pm on June 22, 2018 at the Bainton Gallery in the Blyth Festival building, Blyth, ON. I'd love to see you there!

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to the Bainton Gallery and the members that I have worked with so far. It is an honour to have my work shown in this mecca of rural creativity that is very much in line with my own artistic practice. Thanks to everyone, especially Carl and Rob, whose efforts have helped bring the show to fruition!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Happy Spring! I love this time of year, don't you? This morning I heard a red-winged blackbird, one of my favourites.

2018 bolted out of the gate and I haven't had the opportunity to update you on developments. There's lots to be excited about and, if you follow the fibre arts community, you've probably noticed that fibre art is exploding right now. Good news all round.

The first event on my calendar this year is Collected Threads, a retrospective exhibition of the various contemporary fibre artists hosted by Elsa Elliott in the St. Jacobs Village Silos. For many years, Elsa has promoted a contemporary fibre artist in tandem with the Waterloo Region's Quilt and Fibre Art Festival through her iconic store The Silo Weavers which closed its doors last year. Collected Threads will feature a past and current work from 12 of the previous guest artists, including me.

What a great idea! I can't wait to see the work and how artists have changed over the years.

Next, I am thrilled to announced that I am the opening artist in the Blyth Festival Art Gallery for the 2018 Blyth Festival season! I am so excited about this and have a new body of work to show for the first time that is really something new! More on that soon.

Event: Every Fibre Of My Being, Solo exhibition

Place: Blyth Festival Art Gallery, Blyth, ON

When: June 22 - July 16, 2018

Wave 3B - Detail, 10 x 10 x 1.5, Canadian Wool and Beeswax on Board

Finally, just when I thought I used up all my exclamation marks, (drum roll please) I have been selected as one of five artists granted the Kingsbrae International Artist Residency for the Arts! (!!!) This is an amazing opportunity to spend a month living on 20 acres of award winning gardens in beautiful St. Andrews, New Brunswick, focused on creating art. Still having a hard time believing this one is real.

So - lots going on and it is all extraordinarily interesting. I am having a blast right now and learning so much as I go.

Hope to see you out and about this spring and summer. Maybe at a workshop? Hmm - more on that another day.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Looking for a reason to see beautiful Stratford decked out for the holidays? The seventh annual St(art) the Holidays is coming up on December 9th & 10th at Factory 163, a 1903 furniture manufactory that has been renovated into artist studios and creative space. The show features locally crafted artwork and handmade gifts, all made by local Perth county artists. Hear live music by local musicians while enjoying the Revel caffe's direct trade coffee or sip some wine from the charity bar supporting PAL Stratford.

Most exciting of all is the fact that we will be there this year!

Hand embroidered ornaments - getting ready for the show!

Full disclosure - this is my first show and sale of this kind and I am having the time of my life. After a year of 'forced march to meet the deadline' kind of thinking, hand stitching these delicate little ornaments is playful. This is an opportunity to stretch some creative muscles that have been neglected.

Detail of untitled mandala in progress.

I am grateful to talented fibre artist, friend and mentor, Helen Benninger, for recommending St(art) The Holidays to me, for generously sharing her knowledge and pirate's trove of sumptuous materials, and also for drawing my attention back to mandalas. The mandala/snowflake overlap has got my brain's synapses firing so fast that my hands can't keep up.

We have also put together a new bird kit design in honour of winter. This is an easy way to try your hand at painting with beeswax and wool and is also a unique gift for the fibre enthusiasts in your life. The kits leave lots of room for your own creativity and include everything needed to create a little work of art. Can't make it to the sale to buy kits? Get in touch here.

Kit samples - Doug's inspired sample at top, mine at bottom.

Catching up on other news, the Woodstock Fleece Festival was one of the best events of this kind in which I have participated. The festival demonstrates all aspects of wool - from sheep to finished projects. We had a record turn out for the yarn painting workshop and marveled at the skill level of attendees.

Finally, the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga has extended my solo display, Following the Thread, until January. Woo hoo!

Blackwork mandala in progress on my messy table.

There's been a lot of talk about flow (or Flow or FLOW) around here lately. While I may not be able to define it, I can certainly recognize it as the hours fly by and I follow ideas that branch into other ideas that branch into yet others and I see that I could not possibly pursue them all in one lifetime.

But I can try.

Here's hoping you can find your own flow this winter and fill the chilly days with hot pursuits!

In other news, the end of August brought me up to date with meeting my solo show deadlines as I dropped the pieces off at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre for Following The Thread, a sampling of my work on display from September 1 to October 31.

Sometimes in my art practice, I am nudged in directions that I didn’t anticipate. An idea forms and, almost simultaneously, an emotional response is felt. Excitement, curiosity, and certainty can be there, but so can resistance, impatience, and fear.

Following the Thread is a sampler of the pathways I’ve been exploring in my recent work.

Disturbed by the disparity between my approach to learning to paint and learning to knit (judgemental impatience versus tolerant beginner’s mind), I followed a thread of thought that led me to create works of art using beeswax and wool.

Driven to reconnect with the Southwestern Ontario flora and fauna that filled my childhood and now is disappearing in my adult life, I follow this thread in my subject matter.

Admiring the textile works of William Morris and awed by the painstaking embroidery visible in antique tapestries, I follow the thread of ‘What if I incorporated fabrics into my work?’.

As the generations of women before me pass away and their treasure troves of silks, cottons, and wools are heaped upon me, I explore what I can do with these riches.

Gathered together, these threads form the rope that is my artistic practice, gaining in strength and surety as weaker threads end and the truest are refined and endure.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Many of you already know about the current exhibition of my work in the Rotunda Gallery of Kitchener City Hall titled Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax. The exhibition highlights a series of pieces created in response to the breathtaking scenery around Harrison Park and Inglis Falls in Owen Sound, ON.

I am writing to let you know that I will be at the exhibition to talk about the work, answer questions, and demonstrate a little of my process on Tuesday, August 22nd from 1:30 - 3:30 pm.

Working in wool and wax raises a lot of questions and I love sharing the techniques used and watching reactions when people realize that, yes, that artwork is made with wool.

Please drop in to see the exhibition and take this exclusive opportunity to pick my brain. I'd love to see you there!

Rotunda Gallery

Kitchener City Hall

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

1:30 - 3:30 pm

Do you know someone else who would really enjoy this? Feel free to share this with all of the fibre and art enthusiasts in your life!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

The count down is on. Just twelve days before Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax is mounted.

I received the final copy of the exhibition invite this week and it brought home to me the reality of the approaching completion of a project that has come to feel endless over the year that I have worked on it. Don't get me wrong. It has been a powerful experience and I have learned a lot about what it means to commit yourself to a long term project. I am also really excited to explore some of the new ideas that have been bottlenecking while I worked on this series.

Yesterday, I gathered all of the pieces to photograph them and get them ready for hanging. It was the first time I had looked at the completed pieces together and I was surprised at the cohesion of the group. Ideas, colours, and yarns repeat themselves through the pieces in ways I was not consciously aware of before they were all finished.

Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax will be in the Rotunda Gallery in Kitchener City Hall from August 3 to August 30, 2017. If you go see it, get in touch and let me know what you think!

Here is a sneak preview of the Artist Statement for the exhibition.

Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax

Fibre Paintings Inspired by Harrison Park, Owen Sound

Harrison Park in Owen Sound, ON became a subject of my work during an inspirational camping trip in the summer of 2016. The park is an unusual mix of urban park and classic Ontario escarpment adventure. I experienced many moments of transcendence here and this series is an attempt to communicate those moments and the feeling of the park.

I began with six square foot studies of subjects chosen to reflect different features of the park and moments when I was stopped in my tracks by the sheer beauty of the view. These pieces are worked in a single weight (called fingering weight) of peruvian highland wool.

Three larger works revisit the same subjects and explore the impact of scale and reworking of or ‘second chance at’ a subject, this time using different types and weights of wool to create textural interest and emphasis. The wools used were collected from diverse places such as Iceland, New Zealand, Britain, and Canada.

As an emerging artist, this series represents several firsts. This is my first solo show with an intentionally created body of work. This is my first series based on a geographic location. And, most gratifying, this is the first deliberate attempt to satisfy the statement “If I could do it again, I’d…”

Detail of The Buzzard Tree, Transcending - Works in Wool and Wax Solo Exhibition

With August in view, I am putting the final touches on The Harrison Park series to be shown in my first 'official' solo exhibition titled Transcending - Works in Wool and Wax, being mounted in the Rotunda Gallery in Kitchener City Hall for the month of August.

It feels like I have been working on this series forever, and it has been almost a full year. I have learned a lot about taking on a long term commitment like this, including the fact that I will get bored and try to rebel against myself! It is interesting to be both child and parent and coax yourself to keep on track towards a deadline. I also learned that I seriously underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete a piece because I keep forgetting about the dreaded unforeseen circumstance (aka life.)

Overall, however, this has been a valuable experience in so many ways and I am pleased with the pieces that have resulted from it. I am also bursting with new ideas that have piled up in my sketchbook waiting for attention. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Emergence by Kate Pautler, St. Jacobs workshop 2017

We had a fantastic time, as usual, at the yarn painting workshop at the St. Jacobs Mennonite Church during the Waterloo Region and Beyond! Quilt and Fibre Art Festival this year. I appreciate so much the work of the committee members to organize the workshops and create a magnificent display of quilts in the church. Our workshop discussions were colourful and the group became my best spokespeople by the end!

Special thanks to Kate, who not only sent me an image of her evocative finished piece 'Emergence', but also was kind enough to gift me an extra heating gun for my artistic pursuits. Thank you, Kate!

Also a special hello to Amelia, who impressed us all with her humour and independence, keeping her 80 plus years young and still trying new things.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

So my Spring plan to get fit resulted in a sexy case of bursitis and I've spent the last two weeks with my feet elevated. I made great use of the couch time by whining piteously whenever Doug walked through the room.

Poor guy. I am not a tolerant invalid.

The upside is that I couldn't work on my large piece, which requires standing, so I had a chance to follow through on some ideas for small pieces that I had been storing up.

I used Asclepius as an opportunity to try out a new idea. Before coating the panel with beeswax, I painted a winter sky on the wood and then left parts of it exposed when I added the milkweed image. The effect is very three dimensional and moody. The pygora yarn is so light and flossy, it was like working with real milkweed seeds.

Next, I finished a piece I've had on the back burner for awhile. Garden In Blue is the follow up piece to Grandma's Garden, working on the same idea of sandwiching a layer of fabric in the beeswax and playing with the pattern. I tried out a different colour scheme and worked the design over the edges onto the painted sides a bit more.

Finally, I tried out an idea for my upcoming display at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga this September. With a working title of Native Exotics, I want to create pieces that depict native flora and fauna while exploring some textile traditions, such as Indian tree of life motifs and the designs of William Morris.

Robin In the Apple Tree is the first experiment and I am happy with the results. The definition and shine of the embroidery thread gives the piece an air of luxury and complication. More to come on this theme!

This year's festival also marks the sad closing of The Silo Weavers, a St. Jacobs icon and one of my favourite textile stores. Elsa Brigden-Elliot, the weaver behind the Silo Weavers, is retiring from the store (but not from weaving!) and May 31st marks the last day. Elsa is a lovely person who has opened many doors for me. I will miss having my work for sale at the Silo Weavers, but look forward to seeing what she does with her time freed up!

Be sure to stop by The Silo Weavers during the festival to wish Elsa well and check out the store closing deals. My art work and cards are all on sale until the end of the month.